Heavy Rain Threatens Iowa Corn Yields

While average corn yields in rain-drenched sections of Iowa are still possible if good weather conditions persist, those numbers will be threatened if the wetness continues. The situation now resembles that of 1993, says Iowa farmer Chris Barron, who is AgWeb’s Ask the Margins expert.

"We’re sitting here now in our area at about 19" over the 30-year average, and so it’s just been kind of crazy with the amount of rain that we’ve had," Barron says. "Not a lot we can do about it."

While Iowa gets about 8" of rain on average in May and June combined, it already has more than 23", Barron says.

Eight million to 10 million acres of otherwise top-yielding land are now saturated, Barron says. Many producers in the area replanted between 5% and 15% of their acres this year, and most of those are now severely waterlogged.

"There’s going to be some yield impact, it’s just going to be a question of how much," he says.

Listen to Barron describe the situation and what it means for yields by playing the audio below: